On his album Roadhouses and Dance Halls Lonnie Mack sang that he was too Rock for Country and too Country for Rock and Roll and a similar lyric may fit fellow No Depression member Christopher Lockett’s debut album. Only in his case the question is he too folk for Alt-Country or too Alt-Country for folk either way it makes him fully AMERICANA. Well his self-titled debut CD has been residing on my mp3 player for the last couple of months and every time I listen to it I hear something new and like the album just a little more. When I read the title of the first song “Heartbroke, Drunk and Lonesome” I expected an album of , well say rowdy Alt-Country ala a Kevin Fowler but what I got was a collection of introspective songs with some great lyrics with some pretty cool instrumentals mixed in.
Christopher Lockett is a Virginia native, whose mother was once Emmylou Harris’ gym teacher and currently calls California home. Lockett has made stops in South Carolina for for his undergraduate degree and lived in Georgia for a while on his way to becoming a cinematographer and songwriter!
There’s somebody who I think the gravel voiced Locket sounds like but I’ve yet to place the voice! Anyway the lyrics of his songs are great and there’s great lines in just about every song here’s some examples:
From the opening track “Heartbroke, Drunk and Restless
“You can die young from anything even regrets”
I love the chorus from Hold On To The Night:
“hold on to the night, don’t let go of what you see in the dark
until you see it in the light”
and from maybe my favorite track on the album “Secular Hymn”
06 Secular Hymn
“I dreamed I saw Joe Hill and Phil Ochs walking side by side
I said boys you’re a long time gone, they said we’ve never died
cause you can’t kill what you can’t understand
and there’s a new light in this dark land
gonna spread the Gospel of love,
it comes from within and not from above,
cause you can fool the mind,
but you can’t buy the heart
and no matter how hard you try you can’t keep them apart”
and from “The Story of Far”
13 The Story So Far
“I swear I’ve never done nothin’
that Jesus should have died for,
I’ve paid for my sins with my own life”
“I’ve never seen the eyes of God
but I know the devil’s well
Seen’em in the rear view mirror
following me back from hell”
and there’s more of that sprinkled throughout the album along with some neat instrumentals which include Chris playing Appalachian dulcimer, harmonica, tablas, and Mbira on another favorite track “Mbira Mboogie”. Chris’ friend Irina Bjorkland adds her talents on the musical saw on “Thundersleet” But the instrumental treat on the album is the fiddle and mandolin of the late Amy Farris. Chris was amazed by Amy’s willingness to play on the album considering her resume having been a member of Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women and playing with Brian Wilson, Dave Alvin, Exene Cervenka, Ray Price, Alejandro Escovedo, and Kelly Willis. Amy’s fiddle provides great intros to several songs including “When this Old Car was New” (damn another fovorite track I forgot) and “Heart like a Train” and her beautiful fiddle is there in the background on several other tracks!
So go check out Christopher Locket at myspace, Amazon, or CDBABY. I think I’ll go listen to that saw again!
